Homecoming
by smuttykitty
Summary: Some actionadventure involving Aurora and Northstar. Aurora is an SHIELD Agent sent to catch her AWOL brother. I wanted this to feel like a comic book issue so its fairly brief.


Title: Homecoming 

Author: Smutty Kitty

Disclaimer: Marvel owns all these guys. I don't get anything for this.

Rating: Violence, swears- so whatever you want to say.

Author's Notes: Sort of AU. Possibly. Aurora is an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. picked up after her Weapon X stint. Northstar is the guy who went Limbo after Wolverine 31, same as last seen. I wanted to write a story that felt more like a comic book. Fast paced, some character interaction, minimum internal dialogue, and of course, explosions. Clearly I took some liberties, but I hope you all don't mine. The whole power sharing thing is a nasty vestige of AF series 1, issue 50 and 90 something. My Fury may not be very well in character as I only have exposure to him via X-men. I always presumed he was sort of a gruff army dude, and wrote him as such. And finally, Devo wrote an Aurora with claws in his own excellent fanfic. It is simply coincidence that I did the same, no cribbing intended.

Fury was sleeping hard when the phone rang. He glanced at the time, cursorily. He would answer the phone. No one called him in the middle of the night unless it was important. He just looked at the clock out of habit. A lifetime of interrupted nights left him quite immune to the effects of being woken up at 2 am. He didn't even bother to listen the briefing, he just told the lackey on the other end he would be in his office in ten minutes.

"So you are telling me that Special Agent Martin has escaped?" the Colonel clarified. The nervous looking agent nodded yes.

"When was his last dose of medication?"

"Before lights out. Everything was normal at lock down. Then the alarm went off, and when we went through the roster, he was missing ."

"This is a big fucking problem. Get Agent Beaubier for me please."

"Aye aye, sir."

In only a matter of moments, a leggy woman entered the room. She was wearing standard field agent gear: black turtle neck with insignia and a holster with sidearm. Her dark hair pulled rather austerely back from her face, revealing pointed ears and emphasizing the sharpness of her features.

"Sir." She tipped her head.

"As of 40 minutes ago, Special Agent Martin left this facility without authorization. I am asking you to retrieve him, preferably alive. All resources are at your disposal. Will this be a problem?" Fury asked, already knowing the answer. Whatever issues she had had in the past, Aurora had become an asset at S.H.I.E.L.D. command.

"With your permission, sir, I would like to speak with the X-men."

"Why? It will compromise his cover. We cannot protect him from the consequences of his actions if he leaves this agency, or if his new identity is compromised."

"I understand, sir." She stood at ease, hands behind her back.

"Do you? Your brother has killed more people than most serial killers. It was sheer luck that the press never caught wind about the entire incident. What a mess, a fucking...celebrity, running around exploding people after becoming a death cult zombie. S.H.I.E.L.D. cannot contain that kind of damage, Aurora. If he wreaks havok this time we may have to put him down. This whole thing is too close to hot."

"I understand, sir. I will bring him in."

"He has his own fucking "True Hollywood Story." Did you know that?" Fury asked her, his face a mix between amused and incredulous.

"Yes, sir. I have seen it." A slight smirk twisted her lips.

"Jesus. Bring him in. " He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

Several of the X-men sat around the ready room, Polaris, Havok, Iceman, Nightcrawler, Rogue, Wolverine, Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost.

"Fury lied to me!" Kitty said angrily. "He told me Jean-Paul was missing! And you Logan, how could you collaborate with them about this." The young woman turned to point her finger at him. Wolverine shifted and looked away, but said nothing.

"As I was saying, " Aurora continued professionally, "the same technique used to de-program Wolverine did not work on him. It seemed to leave him in a state even more susceptible to suggestion. Also, his own memory seemed to have been damaged by the technique. We were left with a person, who by our criteria, was not a suitable candidate to be living a civilian life, even a quasi-paramilitary one with the X-men. We encouraged him to cooperate with us or he would be remanded to a metahuman holding facility in Canada for rehabilitation. He chose to remain with S.H.I.E.L.D. Understandably. We gave him a new identity, and something to do with his impulses. "

"So why is S.H.I.E.L.D. deigning to tell us this?" Emma snapped.

"Quite simply because he has escaped from our...possession. He has also removed the tracking devices implanted in him. He must be accounted for. I don't think I need to explain how any further exploits by him would reflect on our respective organizations."

"So you are looking for a team to bring him in?" Alex clarified.

"No. However, I am looking for some back-up to support me. Also, possible use of Cerebra to pinpoint his location. I would like to point out that this is me asking you for a favor, I am not using my authority to force you to assist me."

"Duly noted." Emma said tersely, arms crossed.

"I'm in, Aurora." Wolverine said.

"I appreciate it, however I don't think it would be helpful to the situation if you were part of the assault team. We want to keep it from escalating. To my knowledge he isn't doing anything, I want to keep it that way."

"I want my chance to make right." The older man pressed.

"Very well. Any of you that choose to come with me need to understand that he isn't the man you knew anymore. Previously, my brother did not display violent tendencies and was not interested in utilizing his powers in certain ways. That is no longer the case. He is a very real threat. His close quarters combat techniques have become exponentially better, and his overall capabilities are greatly expanded."

"In what ways? I don't want my team walking into an ambush." Alex pressed.

Aurora arched her eyebrows at his unnecessary interruption. Iceman laughed at his expense. "He has a much higher degree of control regarding the expression of his powers. He can forcibly accelerate his metabolism giving him a regenerative ability. He can control the individual components of his light production, meaning he can manipulate both electrical and magnetic forces. He generate different wavelengths now, he isn't restricted to the visible, but can generate radiation, microwaves, lasers. "

"He learned all of this from the Dawn of the White Light? " Emma asked.

Aurora looked at Wolverine, but he didn't seem to have anything to add. "No. I simply believe that once they opened the proverbial cage, he became interested in discovering more damaging ways to utilize his powers. Theoretically, I can do the same things, but frankly I am frightened of what being able to control those kinds of natural forces would mean for me as a person. That is what stops me, and I believe what previously stopped him. But his ambitions have altered. To what I don't know. He no longer has compunctions against killing or hurting people. Prior to this I don't know of him ever killing anyone in the line of duty or not, but now?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"Do you plan to kill him?" Bobby asked meekly.

"I don't want to, but I will if I have to." Aurora stated simply.

Everyone sat for a moment digesting what they had just heard. Emma stood up. "Aurora, if you would come with me to the Cerebra chamber I would be willing to assist you."

"Thank you. " She turned to the remaining mutants. "I thank you for your time. Whoever is in, please be ready to depart when I am finished. I have a S.H.I.E.L.D. chopper at our disposal, please assemble there."

Emma sat down beneath the elaborate Cerebra helmet, and motioned Aurora to stand next to her.

"Just give me a moment." She leaned back in the seat, a look of intense concentration on her face. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open.

"Aurora, I hope you are ready for this."

She arched one dark eyebrow. "Let me guess, he is coming here."

"Yes. I sense a lot of violent emotion coming from him. I think he is going to try and kill you."

"Good. Because I was just thinking the same thing." A hard look crossed her features, and she strode out of the room. Emma let a little sigh loose and relaxed back into the chair.

"/Scott. Prepare the school for attack. I think we might be sitting ground zero for a very ugly sibling rivalry./"

As Aurora was stepping out of the chamber she was intercepted by Wolverine.

"Logan. My brother is coming here. I am going to try and catch him en route. But please be prepared. He must be stopped." She put her hand on his arm, and smiled at him. A look that said all is forgiven, and help me through this. He looked away but briefly covered her hand with his own. Then she took off.

It wasn't too hard for her to find him once she had an idea where he was. She flew up several thousand feet and simply felt the earth. Both she and Jean-Paul created massive EM disturbances when they flew, all she had to do was "listen" for his. She felt a flutter in a southerly direction. Once she was certain, she made a break.

She blindsided him, and they collided with a flash of light.

"Jean-Paul!" She screamed over the sound of rushing air. "I'm taking you down, one way or another. Come back with me peacefully and it will be okay. I have Fury's word."

"Fuck you, and the organization you rode in on." He drove his shoulder into her gut and started heading down towards the earth. She tried to press back to stop him, but his downward momentum was stronger. She felt a flicker of panic, they were still far to close to the school, they were going to crash close to the main building.

Aurora threw her weight to one side and pulled him under with his own force, but it made no difference. He maneuvered and they tumbled again putting him back on top.

She swung once, and connected squarely with his jaw. He barely reacted.

"Surprize." She whispered, and drove 3 adamantium plated claws straight into his gut.

He made a small gasp, and she tossed him off her. He was free falling, and it looked like he would land in the arboreum on campus. She hoped it would slow him down.

Students rushed out as they heard the glass shatter and using her speed she landed only moments after her brother did.

"Get back! Evacuate the area!" She hollered at the kids near by.

In a wide stance, she tensed and waited to see if Northstar got up.

"Jean-Paul?" She asked tentatively. "If you give up now, you can go home to base. Everything will be okay." She could see anything in the wreckage of glass and timbers. "Get back, goddammit!" She shouted at the kids who were still hovering.

Suddenly there was an explosion and shards of glass flew like bullets. She felt them slice into her body, and thought for a moment about the kids, but shook it off. She blinked once and he was already bearing down on her at a supernatural speed. As they were on the verge of coming together, the X-men appeared.

"Stop! Explain yourself." Emma Frost said, with several X-men flanking her. Polaris, Iceman, Havok, Wolverine, Rogue and Gambit. Kitty and Beast were rushing towards children that had been downed in the explosion.

Jean-Paul just looked at Emma, then back at Aurora.

"Ah, yes. Where was I?" He pulled out a serrated combat knife. "Gutting you like a dead cow."

Emma struck with her mind, and Jean-Paul hissed with pain. She relented.

"That was just a taste, now stand down."

"Fucking do that again, and I will turn you into a drooling retard." He turned on her with a venomous look in his eyes.

She chuckled drily. "Very well."

A moment later she was shrieking and writhing in agony.

"STOP IT!" Rogue yelled, moving in on him, and Emma collapsed on the ground.

"This is between me and my sister, so fuck off and I will let you live." Jean-Paul smiled cruelly and stabbed at Aurora. She caught the knife between her claws and twisted her wrist, pinning it. He kicked off her and they began fighting again in earnest.

"Emma, what happened?" Alex began helping the White Queen up.

She swiped a hand at the tears and spit on her face, and then spoke, "He made his thoughts so fast I began to experience some kind of mental overload. It was like he fired off too many synapses in his brain for me to keep up. He is so different. All I feel is hate from him. If it wasn't his body, I wouldn't even know it was him. We have to stop him. I read in his mind he intends to give the President radiation poisoning, and that is just the beginning. Logan, assemble a team with Cyclops on standby, just in case. The rest of us will try to bring him down."

They turned to see the two figures fighting in the lawn. It was like watching the ultimate action sequence. Their limbs moved as blurs, and all they could see were glints off metal and flashes of crimson.

"We need a plan, quickly while they are involved." Havok said.

"How 'bout hitting 'em with everything all at once?" Gambit said, slightly serious.

"That's not a bad idea, maybe he won't be able to defend on all fronts at once." Havok replied.

"Sure," Iceman said snidely, "Maybe we can just run up there and kick him too, while were at it."

"At least we're trying!" Alex shot back, voice rising.

"Stop, geez. Let's stay on task." Lorna added irritatedly.

"Of course, you'd side with him." Bobby rolled his eyes at his team mate.

"Why don't y'all try to distract him, and let me get close enough to touch him." Rogue offered.

"How is having two of you with those powers better?" Iceman asked.

Emma looked thoughtful, "I could probably shut Rogue down after she absorbed him. At least more easily than I could him. She won't know how to use his powers as well initially."

"All right. Let's do it." Alex said. He shot off a volley of plasma at the earth beneath the fighters, knocking them both off their feet.

Aurora looked around and backed off, suspecting what was coming. Jean-Paul sprung up, livid, his eyes searching for someone to hurt. Polaris was wheeling around in flight, beginning some kind of manipulation. As if she struck a wall, her trajectory was stopped. She hung suspended like a marionette whose master had left the strings. Just as abruptly she smashed into the earth unconscious.

Alex watched the scene with dismay. Lorna was a powerful mutant, difficult to subdue. "Damn you, what did you do to her?"

Jean-Paul smiled his sick feline smile. "I simply gave her a taste of her own medicine, reversing the blood flow in her veins. I'll send her a thank you card for sharing the trick."

Alex fired of some rapid shots, which Jean-Paul easily evaded. He stood motionless, one hand extended and closed his fist. Havok dropped to his knees shuddering, then thrashing in the throes of what looked like a seizure as Jean-Paul disrupted the electrical gradient in his body. He stopped, and lay motionless.

"You Summers really get on my nerves. NEXT!" Northstar took to the sky and aimed for Bobby's ice slide. He exploded through it, but Iceman recovered and shot ice at the speedster, trying to blanket him.

"I can keep it up all day, eventually I'll catch you." Iceman yelled, creating innumberable tentacles of ice from thin air, all intent upon Northstar.

"Really?" A wave of energy rolled out of Jean-Paul, exploding the ice. "What happens if I do that to you?"

"Bring it!"

Jean-Paul raced at Iceman, who stood on a pillar of ice, growing in size. Round and round, Northstar flew smashing the giant iced form into pieces, all in the blink of an eye. Taking advantage of Bobby's temporary cessation, he honed back in on his sister.

"This is taking far too long. I think I will just kill you all in one fell stroke."

An ominous blue light engulfed his body, energy smoking and crackling around him.

Emma looked at Rogue, the two of them had been hanging back waiting for the right moment.

"I'm picking something up from inside the mansion.." She lifted her fingers to her head, "Scott says there is increased radiation inside the mansion! Jean-Paul..."

"That's it, I'm going now!" Rogue stated, and took off for the fray.

Aurora grabbed her brother's arms, his whole body radiating that fearful blue glow. "Don't do this! I know what you are doing, don't!" His face remained passive and indifferent.

"I love you! Please, please ..." She sobbed, bitter tears escaping her control, "Don't make me do this to you."

"What?"That got his attention.

"This." She whispered and pressed her hands to his face. Suddenly her own body became illuminated the same as his.

"No!" He screamed savagely, trying to twist from her grip, but it was too late as she began to draw his energy into herself. She threw her arms around him, drawing their bodies together as she tried to extinguish the escalating power.

Rogue was closing in on them, but stopped a cautious distance.

"What's goin' on?"

"I'm trying to siphon his powers into me. He's trying to make an atomic explosion, help us into the upper atmosphere!' Aurora shouted over the roar of their imminent explosion.

Rogue grabbed Aurora's belt and began hauling them upward, away from innocent people.

"I'm sorry, Aurora, we can't take that chance, " and Rogue placed her naked hand against Jean-Paul's face. A whirl of darkness consumed her, and all she could feel was despair, so dark and black. A hopelessness so profound she could find no reason in it, coupled with searing anger. She wrenched herself away when she felt his consciousness flicker out.

Rogue closed her eyes for a moment to try and stem the waves of fear flooding her body. Aurora cradled the still body against her shoulder, smoke billowing off them as the build-up dissipated.

"Rogue," the dark haired woman said and reached out her free hand. "Let's go down now."

Aurora looked at her brother, as he lay unconscious in the med lab, pumped full of powerful anti-psychotics and sedatives. Like this she could almost see the boy she had met a decade ago. Angry, but still full of a future. She didn't know what lie ahead for him now.

Emma strode in quietly, after a brief conference with the other X-men.

"We have discussed the matter, and we would like him to return to the Institute."

"Emma, I personally appreciate it, but it isn't my decision to make. I won't jeopardize my position at S.H.I.E.L.D. for this either."

"I'm not asking that. Why don't we talk with Fury now?"

"You are assuming that they even want him out of their hair. He's good at what he does."

"Which is what? " Emma asked viciously, "Kill people for the U.S. government? Is that what you want your brother to be reduced to? A one-note stoolie with no life? Government lackey?"

"I don't know. I don't know that it's even my decision. Personally, certainly not professionally." Aurora mused.

"Well I do. Get Fury."

A moment later the he appeared on the screen. "Miss Frost, what can I do for you?"

"I want to have Northstar under my care. Your methods haven't worked, perhaps mine can." Her chin stuck out determinedly.

"And when he wakes up screaming about raping and murdering you and your brood, then what?" Fury asked, a thoroughly bemused look on his face.

"All I want is a chance. He was an X-man. We don't forget our own." Emma retorted levely.

Fury thought for a moment. "Very well, have your "X-man" back. Agent Beaubier I hope you like upstate New York, its your new home, effectively immediately."

"Sir?" She queried.

"You heard me, you will be playing your brother's keeper. Remember what we talked about, if I hear two peeps about anything other than how he's hot, or queer, or rich he will be put down faster than you can say "Old Yeller."

"Yes, sir." She nodded.

"Anything else?"

The women looked at each other.

"No, sir. Thank you for your time."

"Good job, Agent Beaubier. I couldn't have asked for a cleaner mission. It will be noted. Fury, out."

The view screen winked off. They stood a moment, then Emma turned to Aurora with her hand out.

"Welcome to Xavier's Institute for Higher Learning."

Aurora smiled crookedly, then grasped the proferred hand.

"Indeed."

Fini- for now, but there may be a sequel. we shall see.


End file.
